No Timetable On FCC Exit For Martin

Kevin Martin

Change is coming to the FCC, but two Bush appointees about to lose their positions won't say when they will leave, reports MULTICHANNEL.COM. FCC chairman KEVIN MARTIN, a Republican, can be replaced by President-Elect OBAMA as soon as he takes office on JANUARY 20th. Usually, the incumbent FCC chairman steps aside just as the new administration assumes control.

But MARTIN told reporters MONDAY that he's made no plans about exiting the agency. "I don't have any plans to be going anywhere yet," MARTIN said. Pressed for more details, he balked. "I'm saying I don't have any plans," he said.

FCC Republican DEBORAH TAYLOR TATE, whose term expired in mid-2007, needs to leave the agency when Congress returns in early JANUARY. Asked MONDAY when she planned to leave, she said, "I'd guess when I'm told to."

If MARTIN and TATE were to leave at that about the same time in JANUARY, FCC Democrats MICHAEL COPPS and JOHN ADELSTEIN could work quickly to enact a range of new policies over the objections of the remaining Republican, ROBERT MCDOWELL. OBAMA is likely to name either COPPS or ADELSTEIN as Interim FCC chairman while he looks for his own chairman and reviews candidates to fill TATE's slot.

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